TimeScape: Journey to Pompeii Review

Summary

Rating:

Overall:Good graphics and background music keep TimeScape from being a total loss and provide a modicum of entertainment. The
tedious dialogue, unnecessarily frequent (and unanticipated) dying, and the extreme linearity of the game prevent it from being other than a time-killing activity.

Also available for Macintosh: Power PC 200 MHz, System 7.5, 32MB RAM, 8X CD-ROM drive

Screenshots

Click on any image for a larger view.

TimeScape has all the makings of a great adventure game --
extensive 3D graphics, a complex story line, many characters to
interact with, and a modest sprinkling of puzzles. Unfortunately it is
also hampered by some handicaps -- extensive 3D graphics, a complex
story line, many characters to interact with, and a modest sprinkling
of puzzles.

The game takes place in ancient Pompeii, in the year 79 A.D., and
spans the last four days of the life of that city, prior to the
eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which destroyed the city on August 24th of
that year. You play 19th-century explorer Adrian Blake, who is
transported back in time to rescue his fiancée, Sophia, after
she was sent to ancient Pompeii to satisfy the wrath of the goddess
Ishtar. You must find, and rescue, Sophia before Pompeii is destroyed
by the impending eruption.

The biggest problem with the game is that it attempts to create too
much of a story, involving too much boring dialogue with insipid
characters, too many unanticipated (and often illogical) actions, and
too few puzzles.

The graphics in TimeScape can probably be considered the
highlight of the game. TimeScape employes lush 3D graphics, 3D
animated characters, and extensive cut scenes and dialogues with those
characters. The game is played in full panorama mode, where every
scene can be rotated 360 degrees right and left, as well as up and
down. However, these graphics are not incorporated into the game well
enough to make the player feel part of the "atmosphere." Not once did
I feel truly absorbed in the game.

The background music is primarily soft classical music, which suits
the environment very well. Ambient sounds -- such as doors opening and
closing, or water running -- support the game well, and contribute to
an air of realism.

The entire game takes place on the streets of Pompeii. And while it is
very possible that the layout of the game might, in fact, closely
resemble that of the ancient city, it was an extremely difficult
layout to traverse.

A map of the city -- which can be called up fairly quickly -- was
helpful, except that you cannot travel on all of the streets shown on
the map. I frequently found myself following one particular path, only
to find that an "open street" no longer allowed me passage, and I had
to retrace my steps and find another way from Point A to Point B.

One of the biggest faults of the game is that it is incredibly
linear. You can traverse the city almost at will; however, characters
will only be in position, objects will only be available, and actions
may only take place in a very predefined order.

To make things even worse, most of that linearity comes from
conversing with the characters in the game in a very specific
order. And it is that limitation that puts the final nail into the
TimeScape coffin. All of the dialogue takes the form of the
standard 1990's DOS-based games: a conversation will begin and you are
then offered a series of topics on which to converse with the
character. And, as in most of those early, poorly-developed games, you
must eventually select every one of the options, which means
that you basically go through a multitude of very lengthy, very
tedious dialogues, without using any logic or intelligence. I could
have accomplished the same thing had I been playing the original
French version (and I do not speak French).

Not only is the dialogue tiresome and often trivial, but it also weaves an overly complex storyline through the game. The
complexity is due, mostly, to all of the characters (with names like
Palmyre, Popidius, and Pyramus; Sotericus, Fructus, and Locusta) and
all of the various tasks that each one requires you to accomplish. And
to make matters worse, the dialogues seem to go on forever. And often,
much of the intervening activity required by interacting with these
characters seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with the eventual
outcome of the game, giving the impression of being nothing but
"time filler" to pad out a fairly superficial story.

There is one fairly humorous factor in the character interaction,
however. When the game was "ported" from French to English, it was
apparently done by a team of very British voice actors, with the
result being that you end up interacting with a whole city of ancient
Pompeiians, some of whom speak the king's English, others speak with a
distinctive Cockney accent, and several even with a strong Scottish
brogue!

Another oddity about the dialogue has to do with the animation of the
various characters. While you are conversing with them, their bodies
move, their arms raise and lower, their hands bend. And yet their
mouths do not move! It felt rather odd, talking with someone who was
moving almost every part of their body -- except their mouth.

The puzzles in the game are few and far between. The greater part of
the game is devoted to performing certain actions in a certain
order. On rare occasion, a puzzle presents itself. However, these
puzzles are usually extremely trivial, involving nothing more than
some cursory placement of objects in the correct positions or bringing
some object (or collection of objects) to one of the characters who
has asked for it.

Another problem I encountered had to do with the fact that it is
possible to "die" in this game, if you do the wrong thing at the wrong
time. And often the "wrong thing" was not overly obvious. For example,
you might simply be standing too near to a couple of characters who
are arguing. But if you don't move away, you may get caught up in the
fight and be killed! In other cases, there was a fixed amount of time to
accomplish something, or you would die -- however, there would be no
indication of that time limit prior to beginning the task. The only
way you would know was by dying first. Since there is no automatic
save in these situations, the only recourse is to retreat to a
previously-saved game, and hope that it wasn't too long ago!

I was also disappointed by dialogue that I would not classify as
"suitable for all ages". A few choice words made me question the
game's "E" rating.

One other item that I was not able to pinpoint had to do with system
problems I encountered while running the game. On a number of
occasions, I "lost" the sound in the game -- and nothing but a cold
reboot would "revive" it (even though all other applications' sound
continued to work correctly). At other times, TimeScape took
over all other applications' sound capabilities, making it impossible
(for example) to hear that I had new E-mail delivered while I was
playing the game. I was never able to resolve these problems.

Finally, the game has a fairly disappointing ending. After a rather
lengthy (and well-animated) final cut scene, you are left on the road
outside of Pompeii with Sophia and a few other characters but with no
indication at all of whether you will be returned to your own (i.e.,
19th century) time.

TimeScape provides a moderately well-done graphical landscape,
combined with a great deal of historical research into the ancient
city of Pompeii. The tedious dialogue, combined with the extreme
linearity of the game, and the overdone tendency to "die" without
warning, contribute to my low review of the game.